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World History: Books

This guide covers general or world history.

Locating Books

Catalog says available? Go to that library to pick it up in person.  Here is a list of Book Locations.

Book checked out or at the Library Service Center(LSC)? Request it by clicking on "Get this title" in the lower right corner,  and then clicking "Request" under "Get it at Duke."

For more information on requesting materials check this out.

Finding Books

Duke Library Catalog
Start here to find books in Duke libraries. Toggle to view books available in Triangle area libraries (UNC, NC State, NCCU) in the upper left corner of book results page.

Worldcat
Catalog of libraries in US, Canada and beyond.

Center for Research Libraries (CRL)
A consortium of North American universities, colleges, and independent research libraries that acquires and preserves newspapers, journals, documents, archives, etc.   They can be borrowed on extended loan via Interlibrary Loan.

Google Books
Includes many online books - mostly older editions that are out of copyright.

Finding Primary sources in the catalog

  • Go to Advanced Search in the online catalog
  • Under Subject  enter "sources," "personal narratives" or "diaries"
  • Under Keywords enter terms related to your topic 
  • Find Subject Headings related to your topic that include words such as "-diaries" or "-personal narratives"
  • Sample subject headings that are applied to primary sources (click on these in the full record to find similar items):
    • American Diaries--Bibliography
    • Autobiography--Bibliography
    • Diaries--Women